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International Human RightsJessup International Law Moot Court TeamPublic International LawTerrorism and Human Rights

Profile

Leila Sadat is an internationally recognized human rights expert specializing in international criminal law and justice. The Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law at Washington University School of Law and director of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute since 2007, she is a dedicated teacher and award-winning scholar, publishing more than 90 books and articles in leading journals and academic presses throughout the world. She is currently serving as an Israel Treiman Faculty Fellow at Washington University Law School. In December 2012, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda appointed her as Special Adviser on Crimes Against Humanity. Earlier that year she was elected to membership in the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations. In 2011, she was awarded the Alexis de Tocqueville Distinguished Fulbright Chair in Paris, France, the first woman to receive such an honor.

In 2008, she launched the Crimes Against Humanity Initiative,an international effort to study the problem of crimes against humanity and draft a global treaty addressing their punishment and prevention. The draft treaty is now available in seven languages and is currently being debated by the UN International Law Commission and governments around the world. From 2001-2003 Sadat served on the U. S. Commission for International Religious Freedom. Bilingual in English and French, Sadat has lectured or taught at academic institutions throughout the world, and holds or has held leadership positions in many professional associations and learned societies. Prior to joining the faculty at Washington University, she practiced international commercial law in Paris, France for several years. Sadat clerked for Judge Albert Tate, Jr., U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and for both the French Conseil d’Etat and the Cour de Cassation. Sadat earned her B.A. from Douglass College, her J.D. from Tulane Law School (summa cum laude) and holds graduate law degrees from Columbia University School of Law (LLM, summa cum laude) and the University of Paris I – Sorbonne (diplôme d’études approfondies).